Fines for truants in plan to raise school leaving age

Teenagers will face fines of up to £200 for failing to turn up to school or a training course under legislation to raise the school leaving age to be unveiled in the Queen's speech today. The government has ruled out prison sentences for those who fail to turn up to school after the school-leaving age is raised to 18 in 2015. But local authorities will be able to issue legal notices to order them back to class. If they still fail to turn up they could be fined in court.

Yesterday the children's secretary, Ed Balls, published a document outlining a programme of reform ahead of the legal change of the school-leaving age. Headteacher leaders said it amounted to the most radical reform in a generation.

Mr Balls outlined his plans in a speech at the Fabian Society yesterday: "We need a culture throughout schools which makes sure that the 10-year-olds today understand fully the risks and consequences for them of not being in education or training." A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families last night confirmed that fines for teenagers who failed to comply with the new law would be similar to those issued to parents who fail to tackle their children's truancy.

In the plans published yesterday there will be a legal duty on schools and colleges to inform truancy officers and career guidance workers when a student drops out.

Schools are already bracing themselves for the introduction of new vocational and academic diplomas next year which will require them to set up partnerships with other schools to offer the full range of diplomas on top of A-levels and GCSEs, in reforms designed to encourage more of the 200,000 "neets" - 16-18-year-olds not in employment, education or training - to study more. John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "Schools and colleges are certainly up for it but the government must take into account the burden and scale of these changes." The Liberal Democrats' spokesman, David Laws, said the government's approach was "based on threats, compulsion, fines, inspectors and criminal sanctions. In practice, there will be a hard core of young people who will simply be unable to engage with education at 17."

The shadow children's secretary, Michael Gove, said: "We want more children to stay on at school between 16 and 18 but the government's plan is a classic case of a badly thought out policy.

"It will mean more disruptive children in schools and colleges, fewer jobs available for 16-18-year-olds, and an even wider gap between rich and poor."

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